Great. If you were here last week you'll know we're kind of carrying on in John's Gospel but we're doing a little mini series within a series in John's Gospel.
Looking at John chapter 6 and particularly what is known as the bread of life discourse in John 6.
You might remember Jesus saying in verse 35 last week at the top of your sheets, he describes himself as bread, the bread of life.
Come to me and get life, he says. And in this section that we've got printed here he's going to unpack that one verse, that little statement a little bit more.
And actually not just the whole verse but one word he's going to unpack from verse 35.
It's the word comes. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger or thirst.
He's going to tell us now what is involved in that coming to Jesus.
Namely people who come to Jesus haven't just come to him actually but they have been sent to him.
They have actually been given to Jesus by the Father.
Just listen to how Jesus describes these people who come to him.
Verse 37.
All that the Father gives to me will come to me.
Verse 39.
I will lose nothing of all that the Father has given to me.
Christian conversion, coming to Jesus.
Christian believers, he says, are not merely a random collection of people who've sort of blindly found their way to Jesus.
Neither are they people who are born in a certain country or family or with a certain ethnicity.
Neither are Christians manufactured by a culture around them.
Jesus says a Christian is someone who is chosen and selected and presented to Jesus for salvation by God the Father.
They are people given to God the Son by him.
Christians are Jesus' precious possessions, gift-wrapped and delivered to Jesus' door for him to keep and to cherish and to save forever.
I don't know how you feel about it.
As we've gone through John, it feels like we're little toddlers, doesn't it?
Paddling through the waters of John's Gospel step by step.
And as we do that, in this passage, I think we suddenly kind of find ourselves dropping into the deep end.
And we're up to our chins in these deep waters.
Because we are entering here some deep theological waters.
There's some really, really challenging content in this passage.
And it's challenging not just intellectually, but experientially and morally.
Jesus is talking here, isn't he, about God's choosing particular people to give to Jesus.
And him not choosing others to give to Jesus.
It's what theologians call election.
The early church leader, Erasmus, said that passages like this should never be preached at all.
He said, some things are of such a kind that even if they were true and might be known,
it would not be proper to, he says, prostitute them before common ears.
Now forgive his political incorrectness there.
But he and many others say that with this subject, we get to passages like this,
and there should be a big red flag.
But the man who wrote these words, John, is clear, isn't he?
At the end of his gospel, in John 20, he says,
These things, this whole gospel is written that you may believe.
There's no little footnote, is there, in John 20,
saying, apart from John chapter 6, verse 35 to 47.
John, who writes this, says,
No, the flag is well and truly green.
You've got to preach this.
You've got to hear this.
And Jesus himself says, actually, this subject of God choosing, of election,
is definitely for everyone to hear.
In the context here, do you notice who he is speaking to here?
He's speaking to people he says, verse 36, do not believe.
He is speaking to an audience of some believers and non-believers and non-Christians.
If that's you here this afternoon, Jesus thinks that you need to hear about this.
Oddly, he decides, doesn't he, that what you need to hear is this deep subject
about God's infallible, definite, predetermined plan
to give some people to Jesus and not to others.
Election.
If you're a regular here, many of you are,
how would you feel if we announced that in, I don't know, Easter time
we were going to do a sort of evangelistic series of talks?
Sometimes we do them, don't we?
And it would be a series of talks where you could invite your friends along,
it would be accessible to people that have never heard about Jesus or read the Bible,
and it would be sensitive to them.
But the subject matter was not going to be on the question of,
is there a God?
Or even, why does God allow suffering?
Or, why can we trust the Bible?
Although they're good things to ask, aren't they?
But actually, we're going to do a series on election.
How would you feel?
We're not going to do that, I don't think.
But you never hear that, do you?
You never hear of speech missions, or evangelistic meetings,
or university outreach missions,
that are focused on that subject.
Yet here, Jesus preaches election
in an evangelistic sermon
to believers and unbelievers.
To a mixture of people.
And we wonder, why does he do that?
Well, I think Jesus gives us two reasons.
One is a positive reason, one is a negative reason.
First off, we learn here that those given to Jesus
will come to Jesus.
Those given to Jesus will come to him.
Look at verse 37 again.
All that the Father gives to me
will come to me.
People who are chosen
and given to Jesus Christ
by God the Father
to be rescued and loved
will find themselves
coming to him
and being his forever.
as if they are caught
in a sort of tidal wave
of God's love.
God doesn't send these people to Jesus
like we send and receive gifts
and things to each other.
When we do that,
all sorts of things can go wrong.
You get those red cards
coming through your letterbox
don't you at times?
And at the top it says
attempted delivery.
And the thing that was meant for you
hasn't arrived,
it hasn't come to the right place.
You didn't get what was sent to you.
Maybe you weren't in,
you didn't sign for it
or the fee hasn't been paid.
But those who come to Jesus,
those who arrive at Jesus' door
are never like that.
The giving of his people to Jesus
is infallible.
It is effective.
They are flawlessly delivered
and received by him.
Jesus sees his people,
his disciples and followers,
not just as a kind of
random collection of people.
He doesn't come into the world
and sort of go
eeny, meeny, miny, moe.
Which one shall I have?
I'll put all their names in a hat
and I'll pick out a few.
It is not like that.
In one way,
those who come to Jesus
is not up to Jesus on one level.
He says,
no, I've come to do my,
not to do my will
but the will of him who sent me.
Which is not to lose anyone
that the Father has given me.
This is how he sees his people.
He is the good shepherd,
he says in John 10,
whose sheep are those
who he has given to me.
It's my job, John 17,
he prays to God,
to give eternal life
to all you
whom you have given to me.
And the encouraging thing here
in this kind of positive thing
is that this is a mixture of people,
isn't it?
The crowds do not believe
at this moment,
some of them,
but that is not a problem for Jesus.
He's not fazed by that.
It's okay.
It doesn't mean that his church
is going to die out.
Because Jesus knows
that it's not their ability
that is the prime reason
that people come to him.
Nothing about them
actually is the issue.
Since those who God gives to Jesus
will come.
They will.
One way or another.
They will come.
If you are here as a believer,
maybe you've got a great testimony
of how that happened.
Maybe you were in the right place
at the right time.
You were born maybe
into a believing family.
Maybe you had a Christian friend.
You were invited along to church.
I don't know your story.
But let me tell you
what really happened.
What really happened
is that in eternity past,
God the Father
thought of God the Son
and said,
I want to give you a people.
I want to give you this man.
I want to give you this woman.
And so I'm giving you
David Jones.
I'm giving you
Chris Hosier.
I'm giving you
John Mark.
I'm giving you
such and such a person.
And I'm going to
get them
and wrap them up
and give them to you
and deliver them to you,
my son.
For you to have them
and to save them.
When we give gifts
that can go wrong
for all sorts of reasons.
The person might not
even want the gift.
Some parcels
get sent to us,
don't they?
But they get re-gifted.
Some deliveries
get marked
return to sender.
But again,
it's not like that here
with the people
that come to Jesus.
Notice the all
in verse 37.
All that the Father
gives me
will come
and I will not
cast any of them out.
It's not as if
Jesus doesn't want
any of these gifts
or only a few of them.
He doesn't
grin and bear
the gift.
Maybe you think
that's you
if you're a Christian.
You're the one
that became a Christian
but secretly
Jesus thinks
doesn't he,
great,
but actually
they're not what
I had in mind,
Father.
But I suppose
I'll grin and bear it
and I'll receive them
to myself
and be thankful.
It's not like that
because actually
Jesus does have a choice
in who he receives.
He says to his disciples,
I chose you.
You didn't choose me.
And so on another level
it's a mutual thing.
It is like
when a parent
says to the child,
I want to give you
a gift,
son,
and I know
what you want.
And the son says,
yes,
you know
that I'd love
that thing,
Father.
And the father says,
yeah,
I'm going to give you
that thing.
You will have that.
And it's a mutual
decision between
the father
and the son
that Jesus
would receive
his people
and not turn
any away.
And so the father
gives to Jesus
whom he chooses
and Jesus chooses
those whom
the father gives.
It's a really
deep thing,
isn't it?
Hard thing to get
our heads around.
And so these people,
whoever they are,
those who come
to Jesus
are bound
to do that.
They are bound
to Jesus
by this divine,
infallible
gift,
giving.
Whoever they are,
wherever they are,
they will
come.
They will be
delivered to
and signed
for by
and paid
for by
and received
by Jesus.
Notice how
John switches
his description
of Jesus'
audience.
You might remember
early in our passage
he calls them
the crowd,
doesn't he?
The crowd
who
ate bread
and fish.
It's just
a neutral
description
of a group
of people,
isn't it?
The crowd.
But look at
verse 41.
He switches
the title
and he now
talks about
the Jews,
doesn't he?
That is the title
for the people
that we've come
to know
in John's
Gospel
as those
who are
most against
Jesus,
the ones
who frequently
reject him.
But Jesus
isn't fazed
about talking
to them,
is he?
even amongst
those people
who typically
reject him,
if they are
given to him
by the Father,
they will
come to him.
It's not
a question
of if,
but it's a
question of
when for
some of them.
And by
preaching the
Gospel,
that is the
means,
isn't it,
that God
uses,
and through
prayer,
and through
the witness
of his people,
that they
will come.
And what
an encouragement
that is to
us,
isn't it,
as we
seek to
share our
faith,
God's
choice of
people to
give to
Jesus,
doesn't make
us lazy,
it spurs us
on to keep
talking,
and to keep
witnessing,
and to keep
praying,
because in
the end,
those who
are given
to Jesus
will come
inevitably,
and
irresistibly.
I'm sure
that there
are people
in Ealing
right now,
walking around
on the streets,
and maybe in
your workplace,
people that
you know,
who haven't
got the
first idea
about Jesus,
but if
God has
prepared them
to be
delivered to
Jesus,
they will
be delivered
to him,
and they
will come.
It's not
if,
but when.
So that
is the
first thing,
all given
to Jesus
will come.
But then
secondly,
and lastly,
Jesus
says,
another
implication
of this
is that
those
not
given
to
Jesus
will
not
come.
Those
not
given
to
Jesus
will
not
come.
And this
is the
negative
side,
isn't it?
Drop your
eye down
to verse
44
with me.
He says,
no one
can come
to me
unless
the
Father
who sent
me
draws
him.
when we
send things
all kind
of things
can go
wrong.
One thing,
you might
get sent
something to
your door
that actually
wasn't meant
for you
in the
first place.
Maybe it
was meant
for your
next door
neighbour,
or to
someone
living
previously
at your
address.
Some
things can
come through
our door
that we
don't want,
junk mail,
or whatever.
But the
door to
Jesus'
kingdom is
not like
that.
because
nothing
outside of
what the
Father
gives to
Jesus
will come
through
his door
and will
be received
by Jesus.
If the
person is
not sent,
the kind
of stamp
by God
the Father,
and drawn
by the
Father,
they cannot
in any
way,
apart from
that,
slip their
way into
the letter
box of
salvation.
And that
is their
problem here,
isn't it?
Jesus says
the negative
thing here
in response
to something
that they
say in
verse 42,
just look
there,
and they
say,
is this
not Jesus,
the son
of Joseph,
whose father
and mother
we know?
How does
he now say
I've come
down from
heaven?
Now,
the kind
of confusion
on that
may be
understandable,
but John
hints at a
problem that
we've seen
before in
the gospel,
it is the
problem of
people's proud
assumption of
Jesus.
It is their
reliance on
faculties of
human deduction
alone,
isn't it?
It's those
words that
we've heard
before,
we know,
we know
Jesus'
father and
his mother,
we know
where he's
come from,
we know
his mum
and dad,
we know
who he is.
They are
judging him
by human
standards.
And so
because of
that,
they cannot
receive his
gifts.
Doesn't it
highlight the
powerlessness
of the
natural person
to come to
Jesus without
being drawn
by the
father?
Without
God working
in a person
in us and
giving us to
Jesus,
we are
totally unable
to see who
Jesus is
and where
he has
come from
and what
he's come
to do.
It reminds
us,
doesn't it,
that we
can witness
and preach
and take
people to
church and
we can tell
them the
gospel until
we're blue
in the face.
But unless
the father
draws them,
nothing will
happen.
In that
case,
even the
greatest
theologian on
earth will
never come
to Jesus.
And yet
we do
all those
things,
don't we,
knowing that
those he
has given
to Jesus
will come
to him.
Just as we
close now,
it struck me
this week
preparing this,
that Jesus
does tell
people in
John's gospel
to do
things that
he knows
they cannot
do themselves.
Think about
that.
He commands
people to
do stuff
that he
knows full
well they
are incapable
of doing.
He tells
a lame
man to
walk,
doesn't he?
He tells
a dead
man to
get out
of a
tomb.
And maybe
the even
harder thing,
he tells
people to
believe and
come to
him.
Knowing full
well they
can't do
that by
themselves.
And on
one level
it's utterly
ridiculous isn't
it really?
But Jesus
in his
wisdom he
does that
freely and
confidently
knowing that
God uses
the means of
his words to
do the
impossible and
to draw those
who otherwise
would not.
Knowing that
some at
least will
come.
love to
If you're
a bit worried
about this
election thing
this whole
God choosing
people
if you're
sat thinking
have I been
chosen
am I one of
those people
that has been
chosen to
be given
to Jesus
I just want to
say that
actually isn't
the right
question to
ask
but the right question simply is
have I come to Jesus?
am I coming to Jesus?
and if you haven't
then you need to pray for God's help
don't you?
knowing that you can't do that by yourself
you need to pray to the Father
that he might draw you to Jesus
knowing that he's doing that right now
as his word comes to you
and do it and come to him
with his help
but if you have already done that
if you've come to Jesus
and you want to do that
and you're seeking to do that
we're not perfect are we?
but we want to do that
honestly don't be fazed by the rejection of people around you
who refuse to do that
because those given to the Son
by the Father will come
they will come
and if they are given
they will be delivered
and they will be received
and they will be kept by Jesus
so keep doing what you're doing
freely and confidently
as Jesus does
let's pray
thanks
Thank you.